"Hush, Sasha. You'll wake our guest."
Zarek opened his eyes then. Guest. No one but Astrid had ever called him that before.
His thoughts turned to the week he'd spent in New Orleans.
"Am I staying with you and Kyrian or Nick?"
"We thought it best that you have your own place."
Acheron's words had kicked something inside him he didn't even know he had anymore.
No one had ever wanted him near them.
He thought he'd learned to not care.
And yet Astrid's simple words touched the same foreign part of him that Acheron's had.
Getting out of bed, he dressed, then went to find her.
Zarek stood in the doorway, watching her as she made pancakes in the microwave. She was amazingly self-sufficient given her blindness.
The wolf looked at him and growled.
Astrid cocked her head as if listening to see if she could hear him. "Zarek? Are you in the room?"
"Doorway." He didn't know why he told her that. He didn't know why he was still here.
Granted, the storm was still ferocious, but he'd journeyed through many such storms during the centuries when he had lived up here without modern conveniences. There was a time not that long ago when he would have had to scrounge for food in the dead of winter. Melt snow so that he would have something to drink.
"I've made pancakes. I don't know if you like them, but I have blueberry and maple syrup or fresh strawberries if you'd rather."
He went to the counter and reached for a plate.
"Sit, I'll bring it to you."
"No, princess," he said sharply. Having been forced to serve others, he refused to have anyone serve him. "I can fix it myself."
She held her hands up in surrender. "Fine, Prince Charming. If there's anything I can respect, it's those who take care of themselves."
"Why do you keep calling me that? Are you mocking me?"
She shrugged. "You call me 'princess,' I call you 'Prince Charming.' I figure turnabout is fair play."
Giving her a grudging amount of respect, he reached for the bacon that was lying on a saucer by the stove. "How do you fry this when you can't see it?"
"The microwave. I just push the timer for it."
The wolf came over and started sniffing at his leg. It looked up at him as if it were offended and started barking at him.
"Shut up, Benji," he snarled. "I don't want to hear about my hygiene from someone who licks his own balls."
"Zarek!" Astrid gasped. "I can't believe you just said that."
He clenched his teeth. Fine, he wouldn't speak anymore. Silence was what he was best at anyway.
The wolf whined and yapped.
"Shh," she soothed. "If he doesn't want to bathe, it's none of our business."